My last post, about the phone rental, was made last Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, I placed the rental reservation, and the confirmation email said I needed to send a copy of my passport as required by Japanese law. So I went to get it out and take it to school for scanning, and…it wasn’t there. I frantically searched before school, but I had to leave for class. When I got home, I frantically searched some more. And searched and searched. Searched everywhere. My wife got home and she searched. We couldn’t find it anywhere.
Friday, I went over to the old house to look for my birth certificate in the fire safe. It wasn’t there. So I called my mom to ask if she had it…and she didn’t. So I called where I was born, Berkeley County WV, and they were open until 4:30 for issuing birth certificates. So at 10:30, I figured I’d head out there – it’s about 70 miles from home. Fortunately, my mom called before I had gotten very far…she found it! She didn’t have the name change affidavit (my name was legally changed when I was 10), so she went off to her local courthouse while I drove up to her house. I got the documents, we went out for a very nice lunch, and I went home – the passport office closes at 3:00pm so there was no reason to go downtown.
Monday morning, I went to the passport agency downtown. My number slip said it was a 13 minute wait…but it was 65 minutes according to the time on the wall, and according to reality. So I waited, got called, handed in my paperwork, and was on my way. I was told to come back after 2pm the next day.
There were some uncontrollable changes in my schedule today, and I didn’t make it over to the passport agency until 3:20pm. Remember how they closed at 3:00? That’s not Fridays, that’s daily. Oops. The stress of final exams, leaving soon, and everything else all caught up to me at once, and I burst into tears. I went behind a pillar and cried. I looked up after a few minutes, and a guy inside was beckoning me over to the door. He turned out to be a courier, and said that he would see if he could get the guards to let me in. Of course they refused. He came back and I said “but I can sign the pickup slip over to you and you can get it, can’t you?” He said he didn’t know, but how much would I pay him for it? I said I’d give him everything in my wallet, which was $15. He sighed for a long time as if that wasn’t enough, but he took the $15 and went away. After several minutes he came back with the special blue folder. I cried some more – I had been shaking the whole time – and thanked him profusely. He said “check it over baby, make sure it’s right.” I did, and it was fine, and I thanked him some more. He said “it’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” And off I went.
So that’s the story of how I lost my passport and got a replacement six days later. I’m sure my old one will turn up now.
Seems a bit shady to want a copy of your passport! If you lose your passport and need an emergency passport you can always go through a to get a same day passport.